Penguin Poop Drives Antarctic Snow Melt

A new field study found that penguin guano supplies phosphate to surface snow on the West Antarctic Peninsula, promoting chlorophyll‑rich green snow algae that absorb roughly 40% more solar energy than white snow (red algae ~20% more). These biologically darkened patches accelerate local snowmelt, can be seen in satellite imagery of guano stains, and may expand as penguins shift southward with warming. — This creates a measurable, species‑mediated albedo feedback that climate and cryosphere models likely undercount, with implications for coastal melt rates, habitat exposure, and regional projections of Antarctic change.